Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Receives $144.89 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eighteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $144.89.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price objective (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Diversified Trust Co boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 7.4% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.5% during the third quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 3,880 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 5,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $792,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centennial Bank AR boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 5.4% during the second quarter. Centennial Bank AR now owns 1,945 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE YUM opened at $128.31 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $132.96 and its 200 day moving average is $133.51. Yum! Brands has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $143.20. The stock has a market cap of $35.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products.